---
title: 'Add Prisma ORM to an existing PlanetScale project'
sidebar_title: 'PlanetScale'
metaTitle: 'How to add Prisma ORM to an existing project using PlanetScale MySQL (15 min)'
metaDescription: 'Add Prisma ORM to an existing TypeScript project with PlanetScale MySQL and learn database introspection and querying.'
---

import Prerequisites from '../../_components/_prerequisites.mdx'
import ExploreData from '../../_components/_explore-data.mdx'
import NextSteps from '../../_components/_next-steps.mdx'

[PlanetScale](https://planetscale.com) is a serverless database platform. This guide covers **PlanetScale MySQL**, which is built on Vitess and offers database branching, non-blocking schema changes, and automatic backups. In this guide, you will learn how to add Prisma ORM to an existing TypeScript project, connect it to PlanetScale MySQL, introspect your existing database schema, and start querying with type-safe Prisma Client.

:::note

PlanetScale also offers PostgreSQL databases. If you're using **PlanetScale PostgreSQL**, follow the [Add to existing PostgreSQL project guide](/getting-started/prisma-orm/add-to-existing-project/postgresql) instead.

:::

## Prerequisites

<Prerequisites />

## 1. Set up Prisma ORM

Navigate to your existing project directory and install the required dependencies:

```terminal
npm install prisma @types/node --save-dev
npm install @prisma/client @prisma/adapter-planetscale undici dotenv
```

Here's what each package does:

- **`prisma`** - The Prisma CLI for running commands like `prisma init`, `prisma db pull`, and `prisma generate`
- **`@prisma/client`** - The Prisma Client library for querying your database
- **`@prisma/adapter-planetscale`** - The PlanetScale driver adapter that connects Prisma Client to your database
- **`undici`** - A fast HTTP/1.1 client required by the PlanetScale adapter
- **`dotenv`** - Loads environment variables from your `.env` file

## 2. Initialize Prisma ORM

Set up your Prisma ORM project by creating your [Prisma Schema](/orm/prisma-schema) file with the following command:

```terminal
npx prisma init --datasource-provider mysql --output ../generated/prisma
```

This command does a few things:

- Creates a `prisma/` directory with a `schema.prisma` file containing your database connection configuration
- Creates a `.env` file in the root directory for environment variables
- Creates a `prisma.config.ts` file for Prisma configuration

The generated `prisma.config.ts` file looks like this:

```typescript file=prisma.config.ts
import 'dotenv/config'
import { defineConfig, env } from 'prisma/config'

export default defineConfig({
  schema: 'prisma/schema.prisma',
  migrations: {
    path: 'prisma/migrations',
  },
  datasource: {
    url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
})
```

The generated schema uses [the ESM-first `prisma-client` generator](/orm/prisma-schema/overview/generators#prisma-client) with a custom output path:

```prisma file=prisma/schema.prisma
generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client"
  output   = "../generated/prisma"
}

datasource db {
  provider     = "mysql"
  relationMode = "prisma"
}
```

:::info

PlanetScale requires `relationMode = "prisma"` because it doesn't support foreign key constraints.

:::

## 3. Connect your database

Update the `.env` file with your PlanetScale connection URL:

```bash file=.env
DATABASE_URL="mysql://username:password@host.connect.psdb.cloud/mydb?sslaccept=strict"
```

You can find your connection string in the PlanetScale dashboard.

## 4. Introspect your database

Run the following command to introspect your existing database:

```terminal
npx prisma db pull
```

This command reads the `DATABASE_URL` environment variable, connects to your database, and introspects the database schema. It then translates the database schema from SQL into a data model in your Prisma schema.

![Introspect your database with Prisma ORM](/img/getting-started/prisma-db-pull-generate-schema.png)

After introspection, your Prisma schema will contain models that represent your existing database tables.

## 5. Generate Prisma ORM types

Generate Prisma Client based on your introspected schema:

```terminal
npx prisma generate
```

This creates a type-safe Prisma Client tailored to your database schema in the `generated/prisma` directory.

## 6. Instantiate Prisma Client

Create a utility file to instantiate Prisma Client. You need to pass an instance of Prisma ORM's driver adapter to the `PrismaClient` constructor:

```typescript file=lib/prisma.ts
import "dotenv/config";
import { PrismaPlanetScale } from '@prisma/adapter-planetscale'
import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/prisma/client'
import { fetch as undiciFetch } from 'undici'

const adapter = new PrismaPlanetScale({ url: process.env.DATABASE_URL, fetch: undiciFetch })
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter })

export { prisma }
```

## 7. Query your database

Now you can use Prisma Client to query your database. Create a `script.ts` file:

```typescript file=script.ts
import { prisma } from './lib/prisma'

async function main() {
  // Example: Fetch all records from a table
  // Replace 'user' with your actual model name
  const allUsers = await prisma.user.findMany()
  console.log('All users:', JSON.stringify(allUsers, null, 2))
}

main()
  .then(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect()
  })
  .catch(async (e) => {
    console.error(e)
    await prisma.$disconnect()
    process.exit(1)
  })
```

Run the script:

```terminal
npx tsx script.ts
```

## 8. Evolve your schema

PlanetScale uses a branching workflow instead of traditional migrations. To make changes to your database schema:

### 8.1. Update your Prisma schema file

Update your Prisma schema file to reflect the changes you want to make to your database schema. For example, add a new model:

```prisma file=prisma/schema.prisma
// add-start
model Post {
  id        Int      @id @default(autoincrement())
  title     String
  content   String?
  published Boolean  @default(false)
  authorId  Int
  author    User     @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])
}

model User {
  id    Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
  email String @unique
  name  String?
  posts Post[]
}
// add-end
```

### 8.2. Push the changes to your development branch:

```terminal
npx prisma db push
```

This command will:
- Apply the schema changes to your PlanetScale database
- Regenerate Prisma Client

:::info

For production deployments, use PlanetScale's [branching workflow](https://planetscale.com/docs/concepts/branching) to create deploy requests.

:::

## 9. Explore your data with Prisma Studio

<ExploreData />

## Next steps

<NextSteps />

## More info

- [PlanetScale database connector](/orm/overview/databases/planetscale)
- [Prisma Config reference](/orm/reference/prisma-config-reference)
- [Database introspection](/orm/prisma-schema/introspection)
- [PlanetScale branching workflow](https://planetscale.com/docs/concepts/branching)
